Elise Korican (JD '09) Leads Waves of Appreciation

Alumni gather at USO San Diego Neil Ash Airport Center for service

Last Saturday, November 11, Pepperdine alumni from all five schools, United Service Organizations (USO) members, and volunteers gathered at USO San Diego Neil Ash Airport Center to pack over 4,000 Waves of Appreciation (WOA) bags with non-perishable food. The WOA bags will be handed out in December to 4,000 active-duty military service members traveling for the holidays on commercial flights from the San Diego International Airport. During this popular annual service event, volunteers spend over four hours working in an assembly line to stuff 20 individual items into each of the 4,000 drawstring bags. The effort requires opening more than six tons of individually packaged food items, breaking down cardboard boxes, and discarding hundreds of cartloads of recyclable waste.

“It is quite a spectacular event to watch, with amazing camaraderie among the volunteers and a spirit of giving back that is the perfect way to mark Veterans Day and the beginning of the holiday season,” says Elise, who has served as this year’s Waves of Appreciation co-chair. See the local news interview about the great work being done by Elise and her team. Here is the photo album of the event. For alumni interested in participating in the future (there are still two more weekend events to come in December), click here to read more about Waves of Appreciation.